Smoked Bacon Roses

Roses are associated with Valentine’s Day, yet they only last a few days before dying.

Instead of purchasing Valentine’s Day flowers, make these bacon roses! They’re a tasty and simple snack that your Valentine will enjoy.

Ingredients required

• Bacon, thick-cut For this dish, omit the thinner-sliced bacon. You should pick a thicker cut type since it will keep the form of the rose better when cooking.

• Rub for Barbecue Season the bacon with a touch of barbecue spice to lend a burst of flavor to these flowers. I suggest a pork rub with a little sweetness and spice. The Smoke Kitchen Honey Garlic rub is ideal for these roses!

Tools required

• Pellet Grill or Smoker? You can cook them on almost any smoker or pellet grill, but make sure it can maintain a continuous temperature of 350F for roughly an hour. If you don’t have a smoker, don’t worry, you can cook them in the oven!
• Wood or biomass? This recipe may be made with any sort of smoke wood. Remember that the bacon has already been smoked, so you’re just adding another layer of smokiness here.
• Baking Sheet & Wire Rack While you may smoke them directly on your smoker’s grates, I suggest putting a wire rack and baking sheet below your roses. It will collect the bacon drippings, avoid flare-ups, and simplify cleanup.

How to make Smoked Bacon Roses

Bacon flowers are really simple to create and only take about an hour to complete. You may also experiment with the flavors to make the dish your own.

1. Season

While these roses may be made without any additional spice, I feel that a good barbecue rub gives a burst of flavor that elevates them to the next level.

I also used maple bacon in this dish. It has an additional layer of maple sweetness that elevates the tastes.

You may use whatever kind of bacon you like, just make sure it’s thick-cut. Thinner bacon will be more difficult to handle, and your flowers will be less attractive in the end.

Place the bacon strips on a chopping board and sprinkle with the barbecue rub.

I propose something sweet and spicy, like our Smoke Kitchen Honey Garlic rub. It has a hint of sweetness from the granulated honey, as well as a bite from the garlic, salt, and pepper.

2. Roll the roses

Once your bacon has been seasoned, carefully coil up each piece. Begin at one end and firmly roll it in a circular motion.

Secure the roses in a cross-shape with toothpicks at the bottom to maintain their form throughout the roasting procedure.

This will keep the bacon from falling over during cooking and will help it keep its attractive rose-like form.

Transfer all of your roses to a wire rack on top of a baking sheet after rolling them up and securing them with toothpicks.

3. Fire up the smoker

For this cook, I decided to use my Grilla Grills Alpha Connect (AKA: The OG) pellet smoker.

Wood choice doesnt matter much with this recipe.

Because the bacon has already been smoked, you simply need to add a layer of smoky flavor as it cooks. For this recipe, I used Bear Mountain Sweet BBQ pellets.

Place the rack with the roses onto the grates of your smoker after it has reached 350°F.

4. Smoke until crispy

It will take around one hour to cook these smoked bacon flowers.

As temps might vary from smoker to smoker, I suggest beginning to check on them around the 45-minute mark.

Remove them when the fat has rendered completely and the bacon has crisped to your preference.

Brush a dab of maple syrup or barbeque sauce over the tips of your roses towards the end to give an added layer of flavor.

Because I used maple bacon in this recipe, I didn’t add anything extra, but it’s a fantastic opportunity to experiment with tastes!

Serve and enjoy!

You may eat your bacon roses right away, or you can arrange them in a bouquet nestled within butcher paper to create a lovely gift.

I placed some butcher paper into a few Valentine’s themed buckets and filled each one with roses, but you can be as creative as you like with how you serve your roses to your Valentine!

However, I would not advocate sprinkling them on the bed.

Gifts your BBQ-loving valentine will love

• Butcher blocks and wood cutting boards
• Best knife for slicing brisket
• Best grilling gifts under $50